Net profit at Bord na Móna more than halved in the last financial year according to the company’s latest annual report.
Profit after tax and discontinued operations for the year to the end of March was €17.3m, compared with €35m for the same period a year earlier.
The company had to absorb a €7.5m writedown on its renewable energy treatment centre, Anua, which closed down.
Revenue for the period rose just over €26m to €432.8m.
However, Bord na Móna CEO Mike Quinn focused on the company’s growth in the area of renewable energy, saying the latest annual report “shows the significant progress the Company has made in the last 12 months.
“Bord na Móna is a naturally driven company building a sustainable future. The company has changed significantly in the recent past and this will only accelerate in the next five-fifteen years.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Quinn said all of its business divisions have enjoyed a strong year this year.
He said that 12,000 hectares of land has been rehabilitated to date, as part of its 2010 bio diversity plan.
Mr Quinn added Bord na Móna was in the process of only operating on bogs that have already been in production and it took time to wind down operations on the bogs and rehabilitate them back to their natural habitat.
He said that two wind farms were opened last year but planning for these took a long period of time.
As peat operations were ramped down, he said, the company's renewable energy portfolio would be ramped up.
He said that we are fortunate in Ireland to have a strong wind resource which is the lowest cost of renewable energy available.
He said that Ireland must capitalise on having that resource available to it and build more wind farms.
